Assemblog: May 11, 2012

Livide

New on Popshifter this week: Reviews of Turing Machine’s latest release What is the Meaning of What, the remastered reissue of Hey Little Richard, and You and I in Heaven, the new EP from Tyburn Saints.

First things first: Last Friday, Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA of Beastie Boys, passed away at the age of 47 from cancer. My thoughts go out to his bandmates, friends, and family. He is missed and always will be.

Yesterday afternoon, the Internet had a collective anxiety attack wondering about the fate of NBC’s Thursday night line-up, specifically Community, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock. Twitter ran amok with speculations on what was cancelled and what wasn’t cancelled. By 4:40 p.m. EST, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that both Community and 30 Rock would return for abbreviated, 13-episode final seasons next year. No word on when the seasons would start, however.

As the afternoon dragged on and the Twitterverse grappled with this news, there was still no confirmation on Parks & Rec. According to a TV Line post at 8:56 p.m. EST, “Still no official word on the fate of fellow Thursday night comedies The Office and Parks and Recreation, but both are considered locks to return.”

Shocking news: The Avengers grossed about a gazillion dollars in its opening weekend! And yet, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it was only the third most pirated movie last week. The article links to a thoughtful piece about piracy from the Plagiarism Today blog, which is not maintained by an attorney but by a writer and webmaster named Jonathan Bailey. Here’s an excerpt:

Of course, some of the challenge of thinking about piracy on an individual level is that so much of the communication comes from industry organizations like the RIAA and MPAA. They frame their side of the discussion from the industry perspective because that’s the one they have.

Bailey’s call for more creators to speak up about piracy is sound. We can’t let the RIAA and the MPAA be the only voices we hear.

It’s been a few years coming, but the new Sam Mendes-directed James Bond movie, Skyfall, will be out October 24. Twitch has five great ideas for the “new more complex James Bond” to which Mendes has alluded. I like this article a lot because it is written from the perspective of someone who likes Ian Fleming’s novels as well as the movie franchise. The James Bond of the movies is only part of the character. And not to sound pretentious, but there’s much more depth to him in the books. If you read the books and still think Sean Connery’s portrayal is the best, then you clearly like a totally different James Bond than I do. And that’s fine, but I’m not changing my mind on loving Daniel Craig’s James Bond the most.

Matt Keeley at Kittysneezes brought this to my attention: Visual effects artist and filmmaker Rémy Couture will go on trial this December for “moral corruption” and “distributing obscene material” following his arrest at his Montreal home three years ago. If you think this sounds absolutely ridiculous, you’d be correct. I’m actually surprised that I haven’t heard more about this until now. This AV Club Toronto interview with Couture is worth reading for horror fans as well as anti-censorship advocates.

Finally another screening and review of Livide! This one comes from Twitch via the Bradford International Film Festival in the UK and is both well-written and thoughtful review. And it just makes me want to see the movie again, which begs the question I’ve been asking since September 2011: When is Dimension Films going to announce distribution?

I’ve been wavering in my anticipation for The Road, the new horror thriller from Filipino director Yam Laranas. There’s been a mixed bag of reviews, but I still would like to see it. Horror filmmakers outside of the US are doing some great work (see also: Livide) and I do think we should support their efforts. Here’s the new red band trailer. What do you think?

Deadline reports that the next project for filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost (Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3) will be an adaptation of the 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang. If you read my review of Catfish, you already know I loved it, but I also enjoyed Paranormal Activity 3. I hadn’t heard of The Monkey Wrench Gang before, but here’s the intriguing description:

Written in 1975, the novel follows a gang of four guys who try to battle over-development in the American West in the 70s. They do this with bumbling attempts at sabotage, attacking deserted bulldozers, construction equipment and trains, with a vow they will not harm a human, animal, plant or rock. Well, three of the quartet take that to heart; the fourth, a young Vietnam vet named Hayduke, wants to blow shit up.

This is unexpected, and I must admit, delightful news. I’m definitely going to watch for updates on this film.

Another film I thoroughly recommend is Ganja and Hess, which was reissued on DVD May 8 through Kino Classics Remastered (thanks for the news Bloody Disgusting!). I would love to check this out, considering the troubled legacy of the film’s creation, reception, and subsequent lack of distribution on home video.

Last year, before I had seen the Swedish Millennium trilogy of films (or read the books), I was intrigued by the trailer for Babycall, a Swedish horror thriller. Now that I’ve fallen in love with Noomi Rapace (can’t wait for Prometheus!), I am happy that Babycall—now titled The Monitor—will be available on home video July 24. Check the trailer below.

Now for some music. If you remember my review of Invisible Hand’s self-titled album last spring, you’ll know how talented singer/songwriter Adam Smith is. Here’s a video of him sitting on a chair, playing and acoustic guitar, and singing. Check out the clever lyrics and Smith’s great voice.

Apparently there is a band called Dive (named after the Nirvana song) who recently changed their name to DIIV. I probably would not have known or cared about this, had I not chanced across two of the tracks from their upcoming album Oshin. Both “Doused” and “How Long Have You Known?” are part of that “proto-shoegaze, jangly, dream pop veering deliciously close to goth” subgenre of ’80s music I love. (Just quoting myself here.) You can listen to both terrific songs on Consequence of Sound.

—Less Lee Moore, Managing Editor